Mission Statement

Miami New Drama is a nonprofit professional theater company based in Miami Beach, founded on the belief that theater is not only an art form, but a powerful force for civic dialogue, cultural memory, and social connection. Our work is guided by four core principles.

We believe in the power of new work.

Miami New Drama is dedicated to the creation and development of original plays and musicals. We invest in artists and stories at their earliest stages, supporting the careful, rigorous process required to bring new voices and ideas to life.

We believe theater must be rooted in its community.

Our work grows out of Miami. Whether through stories drawn from the city’s history or narratives that reflect the lived experiences of its many cultures, languages, and identities, we believe theater is strongest when audiences recognize their world on stage.

Our work is part of the national conversation.

Grounded in Miami but attentive to the wider American landscape, Miami New Drama creates theater that engages with the cultural, social, and political questions shaping the country today. We see theater as an active, participatory art form, one that invites dialogue, reflection, and connection beyond the walls of the theater and beyond the borders of our city.

We believe excellence is a responsibility.

We do not believe that art transforms lives. We believe that great art transforms life. Our commitment is to the highest artistic standards, in service of creating experiences that challenge, inspire, and endure.

Our programming includes an eclectic mix of original plays, musicals, classics and world premieres – featuring work commissioned specifically for Miami New Drama. Our productions utilize a mix of the best local, national, and international talent to incubate work from a mere idea to a full-fledged performance. Actors, directors and designers, culled from the Miami community and beyond, create work that reflects our extraordinary city and highlights some of the best theatrical talent in the world.

We focus on world premieres commissioned by our organization as well as others that provide partnerships with top national organizations such as Tectonic Theater Project and Asolo Rep. The first show of our debut 2017-2018 season was a multilingual version of Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town. It was critically-acclaimed as “glorious, emotionally potent” and “inventive and touching…superb!”

Past productions include the American premiere of Ferdinand von Schirach’s Terror directed by Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher, The Golem of Havana, an original musical written (book) and directed by Michel Hausmann, Queen of Basel, a new play by Hilary Bettis, directed by Michel Hausmann, One Night in Miami, by Kemp Powers, directed by Carl Cofield, the world premieres of Fake by Carmen Pelaez, directed by Carl Andress, Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy by Billy Corben and Aurin Squire, directed by Michel Hausmann, and Viva La Parranda! by Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo in collaboration with Juan Souki, Thornton Wilder’s Bridge of San Luis Rey adapted and starring David Greenspan, world premiere of The Cubans by Michael Leon, and the world premiere of a new Louis Armstrong musical A Wonderful World by Aurin Squire and directed by Christopher Renshaw.

Miami New Drama’s 7 DEADLY SINS was the largest live professional theater production during the COVID-19 shutdown, transforming 6 vacant storefronts and the Colony Theatre loading dock into 7 unique theater spaces, and invigorating an entire block of Miami Beach’s historic Lincoln Road, one of the world’s most renowned and trafficked pedestrian thoroughfares. Its acclaimed run was extended twice, playing 54 performances.

THE COLONY THEATRE is located in the heart of South Beach on Lincoln Road. It first opened on January 25, 1935 as a Paramount Pictures movie house. Recently, the building underwent a three-year $6.5 million renovation to restore its original Art Deco grandeur and update its stage and technical equipment. Its impressive art deco design makes it one of the crown jewels of Miami Beach.